"Kill him! Kill him now! Don't give this Old Demon a chance to retaliate! If there's even an ounce of truth in his words, we must never let it come to fruition!" Emperor Varan roared with madness.
Emperor Varan immediately lunged at Galen, sword aimed straight for his heart after a barrage of light-piercing dragon spells exposed Galen's darkness-shrouded body.
The aura-enhanced sword pierced straight through Galen's heart region, but no physical contact was felt as Galen's body dispersed into darkness.
Emperor Varan's expression fell, but he immediately slashed at the rest of Galen's darkness-dispersing body in rapid succession, dicing it up in hundreds of pieces in an instant before swiftly retreating from the darkness-filled area.
Ballistic dragon spells immediately bombarded the location a split second after Emperor Varan leaped. However, Emperor Varan didn't retreat fast enough and got caught by the blast force. But, besides getting pushed away by the blast force, he was unharmed otherwise.
"Are you alright, Your Majesty?"
Commander Jhoru quickly checked on Emperor Varan and felt relieved after confirming his condition.
Meanwhile, fire and smoke rose from the pits under the heavy magic barrage, mixing with the black clouds of darkness. There didn't seem to be a spot within the dark clouds left intact – the draconic fire barrage laid waste to the land hidden within.
Galen's figure was repeatedly deformed and blown apart, but it didn't wipe away his cold, ridiculing smile.
Only his shadowy clone was struck. As for his real body, it was hidden elsewhere in the darkness.
"You fools. I've already told you that I am just a distraction. Why are you still here, targeting me? You must know that if you truly want to leave, this Blood Slaughter Domain will not stop any of you!" Galen's voice resounded from the darkness.
"Do you think we will believe you just because you said so? That would be true foolishness! How can a devil's lapdog like you not hold a key position in whatever scheme your master is cooking?" Kuvat retorted with contempt.
At the same time, Kuvat quickly summoned a pseudo-black hole with a powerful devouring force and fired it into Galen's region of darkness. In a short instance, the pseudo-black hole swallowed up everything in the area--regardless of whether they were dust, debris, light, or darkness.
In the blink of an eye, a dumbfounded Galen was stripped out of his hiding spot as he tried to resist getting pulled into the pseudo-black hole.
"I'm willing to bet that you are just trying to lure us away so you can buy some time to signal the next step of your master's grand scheme!" Kuvat added with confidence before barking, "Kill him!"
Emperor Varan and the dragons immediately locked onto Galen's figure and assaulted him from every angle.
There didn't seem to be the slightest opening for Galen to exploit. Yet, he somehow managed to slip through their concentrated attack by burrowing himself into his own shadow and re-emerging from someone else's shadow.
In that brief instant of relocation, Galen's entire physical body seemed to have been converted into a spiritual state.
"Sigh! This is why being too smart is not good for you, Foolish Lizard!"
Galen indirectly admitted his intention as he punctured a hole through the imperial soldier whom he appeared behind and drained all of his blood.
"Why must you force my hand? I was going to let you all live to witness the grand arrival of my master and his people. But now, you can all die and become his offerings!" Galen's gaze flickered with a cold light.
"Not good! Everyone, get away from there!" Emperor Varan quickly warned.
However, his warning came far too late. If a Peak Transcendent wanted the imperial soldiers to die, their lives were as good as gone without third-party interference.
Galen's flesh rapidly inflated with spiky surfaces before countless blood needles burst out of his body, shooting in every direction.
Kuvat and his peers hurriedly used their barrier magic to save as many lives as possible. However, thousands of imperial soldiers and several dozen imperial guards still lost their
Even a couple hundred Delarosan members got killed by the blood needle volley.
"No!" Emperor Varan cried, instantly filled with regret.
The killing power of Galen's blood needles was just too fearsome.
They were just too crowded within the Delarosa Household. He should have ordered everyone below Transcendent rank to evacuate the premises at the earliest chance they were given.
Alas, his desire to capture the Delarosans and extract their knowledge cost him dearly.
Nevertheless, Galen was not content as he prepared another killing spree after getting locked down by the dragons. However, his ability failed him just as he tried to escape through his shadows again.
Galen ended up smashing his head into the shadowy ground; the shadows in the area seemed to have been sealed.
"Do you think you can use the same move twice after I've seen it once, devilspawn?" Kuvat coolly spoke as he watched Galen's true body get bombarded by dozens of ballistic poison spells.
In a short instant, Galen was reduced to a bloody, wretched state.
He had suffered grievous injuries from the concentrated attack, and even his powerful regeneration failed to restore him quickly due to blood coagulation.
Galen coughed up chunks of coagulated blood. He glared at Kuvat venomously while his body was pinned to the ground with persisting poison arrows.
"Kekeke, I must admit I have greatly underestimated your kind," Galen chuckled sinisterly without the slightest concern over his life as he spoke, "However, my original intention has still been achieved."
"While it was still shorter than I had hoped, I should have bought sufficient time for the grand array to gather its energy. You should feel honored! It seems you will all get to witness my master's grand arrival after all!"
Galen suddenly drilled into his own stomach with his barely-
recovered left hand and activated the hidden totem inside with a crushing motion.
The entire surface of the Delarosa Household suddenly lit up with intensifying blood crimson light.
At the same time, all the spilled blood on the ground instantly vanished into the light before a powerful pillar of blood crimson light soared into the high heavens from Galen's location—or, more specifically, his stomach, where he hid his totem beacon.